The GQ+A: Chelsea Peretti on the Difference Between Her and Louis C.K.

How do you know if someone is truly great? They tell you. See: Chelsea Peretti: One of The Greats. The new standup special from Chelsea Peretti—master street style commenter and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star—airs on Netflix Friday and it's, well, great. Her standup, of course, is great. (See for yourself in the trailer below.) Her ridiculous voiceover intro that dramatically documents her "journey," and motorcycle ride (!), to San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts for the taping is even great-er. And her genius-ly scripted faux audience interactions and conversations with her own self-doubt are the greatest. It's unlike any standup special you've ever seen—weirder, cleverer, and, possibly, funnier. We called her up for more greatness.

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In One of The Greats, you lament how often you get asked what's it like to be a female comedian—why is that still a thing?

It's honestly astounding to me. I think it's literally about a lack of access. Because I'm a comedian, and I'm in this world, I know. I don't want to be called a comedienne, and I'm not really interested in being called a female comedian. I'd rather just be seen as a comedian. I'm doing the same set. I'm going on the same airplanes. I'd liken it to calling a female doctor a "doctorette" or calling her a "female doctor." It's basically a way to sideline people who have honestly been at the center of this movement for so many decades! I Love Lucy, Roseanne. But yet articles surface in which all that stuff is erased. It's just irritating to me but, on a positive note, I really feel like it's changing so fast that I'm hoping, you know, those jokes and that subject matter will be obsolete, and I won't have to even call it out ever again.

The special's staged audience reaction shots—the oblivious making out, the sleeping, the awkward looks—are bafflingly funny. What's the worst thing a person in the audience can do during a standup show?

I mean—it's so simple—to not laugh. It's really like, when someone's just staring at you, and I experience this, there are just some people who either don't speak English well, or there's a generation gap, or you're not their cup of tea—whatever it is—and they just kind of stare at you flat-faced. And it's almost like, You know this isn't like TV? I'm actually a person in front of you, and I have feelings. But there are so many things; any time you think you've seen the worst, some new audience member steps up. Bachelorette parties are notorious for hassling comedians. It's really just people who are disruptive or disinterested. But honestly, for me, the hardest is someone just staring at you icily. That's pretty brutal, when the very thing that you're doing is to make them laugh.

How do you deal?

I technically should ignore it, probably. But I tend to comment on it because it's just so crazy to me. Like, smile or just don't sit in the front. Why are you at a comedy club? I just don't understand, like, you should know what you're getting into or something, I don't know. I'm very distract-able. There are certain comedians, like I think Louis C.K., will keep like the entire audience black so you can't see them. But I want to see people because I feel like I connect with them, but then the downside is if there's someone who doesn't like you; it's really hard, if you have self-doubt, not to fixate on the person.

One of the Greats Lightning Round! Name the great...movies you can probably watch on Netflix?

I just watched this documentary with my boyfriend about a king. I need to find the title, but I want to say it's one of the few documentaries about a king on there. It's got English narrators. We were so into it. All the experts were so excited to talk about history, and it was just so funny to us. First of all, this king, he had like six wives or something, and he beheaded half of them, and then they were like, one of them cheated on him—Anne Boleyn or whatever—she cheated on him, and he had her beheaded and those historians start trying to make it sympathetic, like, "Then he went into period of depression." He just beheaded a woman! We're supposed to feel sad for him right now? In his palace?

Breakfast?

There are several greats for breakfast. I mean, there's, I want to say, ten greats in the breakfast theater. There's Eggs Florentine and then imagine being in Paris and having a [in a French accent] croissant and a cappuccino, for example. Um, a waffle with mid berries all over it. Oh my God.

Other comedy specials?

The truth of the matter is I don't actually like standup specials that much. Because I think that there are a lot of challenges to putting standup on TV and just recording it, because it's a live medium, and so you have to capture this lightning in a bottle. The one I really loved was Richard Pryor 's _Live & Smokin'—_he's kind of nervous and uncomfortable, and I kind of love that. I love that he was being vulnerable, and just seeing someone who's so talented be a little anxious and vulnerable is so fascinating to me.

TV shows that take place in Brooklyn that isn't Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

Where did_ 227_ take place?

Dogs?

My dog. My dog is the best dog there ever was. I can't believe how sweet he is. He will just lean his little head on you. He's a living teddy bear with grey eyebrows. I don't know what kind of dog he is—I really kind of want to get his DNA tested. Everyone always claims him as their breed. They're like, "You know, he's definitely Havanese." "No, no, no, I have a poodle-terrier-whatever. He's this one." I should tell people he's a German shepherd. "He's a Bullmastiff that's half-Bor." I'm gonna start doing that. This was really a productive call.